Among major grain varieties, China only enjoys advantages in wheat production. In 2005, China's wheat production per hectare was 4.23 tons, much higher than the 2.82 tons of the United States and a little above Japan's 4.11 tons. However, in the same year China's rice production per hectare was 6.26 tons, way below the United States' 7.44 tons; China's corn production per hectare was 5.15 tons, around 55 percent of the United States' 9.29 tons; soybean production per hectare was 1.83 tons, far behind the 2.91 tons of the United States.

The first standard of a country's food security put forward by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organiza-tion is a self-sufficiency rate of 95 percent or above. What is the situation for China?

Li Chenggui: China is able to supply 95 percent of its grain demand. But many people have clung to the mistaken idea of singularly pursuing the self-sufficiency rate: the higher the better.

I believe China should adjust its strategies and advocate food security based on efficiency. The one-sided emphasis on grain self-sufficiency regardless of the cost will damage national interests. For example, some areas have transformed grassland into farmland only to raise grain self-sufficiency in that region. The result was that grain output only experienced a limited increase while the local eco-system was disastrously damaged.

China's food security is based on the domestic supply of grain. However, the Chinese Government should be flexible on macro-control of grain self-sufficiency. China should skillfully take advantage of the international market. The decline of farmland and shortage of water are two outstanding factors adversely affecting China's food security. According to statistics, due to low irrigation water use, the production of 1 kg of grain consumes 2 tons of water, which is three times the level of industrial countries.

In order to guarantee China's food security, China has established large commercial grain production bases. Among these production bases, a major type is state farms, including mega-farms operated by the Central Government. For example, the reclamation area of Heilongjiang Province in China's northeast has become an important grain production base and strategic grain reserve. As an official in charge of land reclamation and state farms, what do you think of the role of land reclamation areas in guaranteeing China's food security?

Yang Shaopin: Every province on the Chinese mainland has its land reclamation zone and there are three land reclamation zones directly under the administration of the Central Government, located in China's northeast province of Heilongjiang, southern province of Guangdong and island province of Hainan. When China established these land reclamation zones, an important goal was to ensure grain supply for big cities.

The total area of these land reclamation zones is 375,000 square km, equivalent to that of a big province. They have a total of 5 million hectares of farmland. In 2006, land reclamation zones all over China produced less than 5 percent of the country's total grain production. Despite the low proportion in the total production, these land reclamation areas, especially mega land reclamation zones, play a vital role in maintaining the country's food security. For example, during the outbreak of the severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic in 2003, Beijing was hit by a panic purchase of food. Under such circumstances, Central Government ordered delivery of a large amount of grain from the Heilongjiang land reclamation area to Beijing, which immediately curbed the panic.

In many areas of China, farmers mainly plant grain for their own needs. Land reclamation areas have large commercial farms whose commercial production accounts for 85 percent of their total production. In 2006, the reclamation area in Heilongjiang Province produced a total of 6.66 billion kg, which is enough to sustain the total population in the four municipalities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin and Chongqing and all Chinese army soldiers for one year. In the past five years, the land reclamation area in Heilongjiang sold more than 45 billion kg of grain to the country. These figures are evidence that large land reclamation areas are playing a key role in maintaining national food security.

To maintain food security it is important to avoid serious fluctuations in total output. Several years ago the food security issue was given unprecedented attention, which caused a large-scale surplus in grain supply. Grain can mold after being stored for many years. How do we avoid a recurrence of this situation?

Li Chenggui: The supply of grain is greatly affected by psychological factors. Therefore, the Chinese Government should keep itself on high alert while easing the worries of the public. To be specific, in the case of a fluctuation in the market, the government needs to minimize the effect using macro-control tools rather than encourage people to overreact. Thus the National Development and Reform Commission should keep a clear mind about overall grain demand and supply and make correct predictions about grain supply and demand in domestic and international markets.

Several years ago, spurred by the grain surplus, some government departments offered incentives to enterprises producing ethanol out of corn. This shortsighted policy has been stopped recently. Aside from cost factors, this policy will bring damage to stable grain supply in China.

Since China joined the WTO in 2001, Chinese agriculture has faced a globalized market. What impact has this had on maintaining food security?

Li Chenggui: From the perspective of maintaining national food security, China's accession to the WTO is a positive factor since China has more choices of market channels. However, this has harmed farmers' enthusiasm for cultivation since agricultural products from Western industrial countries are more competitive due to their advantage of low costs.

As the world economy has walked to a globalized one, any fluctuation in grain supply in the most populous country will affect the whole international market. Therefore, to dismiss worries of the international community, China has to trade with more import partners, such as Brazil and Australia, and sign more forward contracts so as to avoid purchasing grain of a colossal amount in a short period of time. This can minimize its impact on the international grain market.